The squad has been hard at training for the 2019 NAB AFLW season for three weeks now, and are joined by NTFL players who were invited to be part of the Elite Development Squad which tops up the overall training numbers.

With Angela Foley relocating to Adelaide for employment opportunities during the AFLW season the establishment and progression of the Elite Development Squad is vital for the elite squad and beneficial at the local level.

Next week the squad will also have two new faces from Adelaide with Ailish Considine and Chloe Scheer staying and training in Darwin for the week.

The pair will gain good match practice in Round 10 and 11 NTFL Women’s Premier League pulling on the jumper for local teams Nightcliff (Scheer) and St Mary’s (Considine) who this weekend play each other.

Considine was a talented Gaelic football player with Clare and Kilmihil, in Ireland’s mid-west region, and is also part of AFL Ireland Women’s West Clare Waves team. She signed on as a rookie for next year and is the Crows’ first international women’s player.

Under AFLW competition rules, clubs may sign up to two rookies who have not played Australian Rules football competitively in the last three years or been involved in a high performance AFLW program.

Scheer was taken with pick number 37 in this year’s draft after being on track to be drafted in 2017 before rupturing her ACL late in the SAWFL season. At only 19 years of age, she already has an impressive football resume including winning the Under-18 best and fairest medal as well as the senior award, the Dutschke Medal, which is the SAWFL’s equivalent of the Magarey Medal.

Overseeing AFLNT’s involvement with the Adelaide Crows AFLW team is Andrew Hodges, who said adding Considine and Scheer to the group next week would be beneficial.

“It’s fantastic to have the two girls come up and join in. It will help our elite development squad understand the level they need to be training at week in week out.

“The lessons the NTFL players are learning by being part of the program is seeing significant improvement in them individually and back at their local clubs.

“It will also be great to have Matty Clarke up here to oversee it all and host a coaching masterclass, further cementing the lessons from the elite level being passed back to the community,” Hodges said.